Good morning everybody and welcome to the Anoka County Board meeting for January 27th, 2026. Would you all please rise and join me as we pledge allegiance to our country and to its flag. Would >> the clerk call the role, please? [clears throat] >> Here. >> Here. >> Mash >> here. >> Commissioner Jeepson >> here. Commissioner Meisner >> here. >> And we're all president and accounted for. Uh, next item. will consider accepting the regular claims paid over $500 and purchase card claims paid for the periods ending December 26, 2025 and January 9th, 2026. Is there a motion to approve? >> So moved. >> A motion by Commissioner Brassstead. Is there a second? >> Second. >> Second by Commissioner Jeffson. Any discussion? >> Seeing none, this is a roll call vote. >> Commissioner Brad. >> I. >> Commissioner Reiner, >> I. Commissioner Schulty. >> Hi. >> Commissioner Gomesh. >> Hi. >> Commissioner Jeepson. >> Hi. >> Commissioner Meisner. >> I. >> Commissioner Heinrich. >> Hi. >> That item passes. Item five on your agenda is the approval of two sets of minutes. Uh the first will be January 6th, 2026, which is our statutory and organizational county board meeting. Uh the first thing I'll point out is on page nine, paragraph A of those minutes, uh we have the committee of the whole government operations listed. Um and we list uh Commissioner Brasted as the community and government relations lead. Uh that however was a mistake on my part. It was supposed to list Commissioner Jeepson. I submitted that to staff um quickly and uh neglected to have that change. However, the minutes will state Commissioner Brasted because that's what was in there and that's what we ratified at the time. However, today's minutes will state that we changed that and it is in fact Commissioner Jeepson. Uh but the minutes will be adopted as presented for that from that point of view. >> Um but I believe we have one other correction. Is that right? Yeah, it'll be uh on page six relative to the resolution concerning employer contribution towards medical insurance. Um when the minutes got copied in uh the second half in the box uh missed it must have been a formatting issue of some sort. Um but where it goes into the computation of service that'll be added in uh the the resolution which was approved has it correct which is really the truth. Uh but uh we're going to make sure that that's updated here in the minutes as well with the concurrence of the board. >> Excellent. Do I have a motion with that correction to approve the item 5A, which is the January 6 statutory and organizational county board meeting minutes? >> So moved, Mr. Chair. >> Motion by Commissioner Heinrich. Is there a second? >> Second. >> Second. >> Second by Commissioner Gamash. >> All those in favor, please signify by saying I. >> I. I. >> Anyone opposed? Those minutes are adopted. Next, we'll consider January 6, 2026 regular county board meeting minutes. Is there a motion to approve? >> So moved. >> Motion by Commissioner Meisner. >> Jeepson. >> Jeepson. Is there a second? >> I will second that. >> Second by Commissioner Meisner. Uh further corrections, changes, additions, seeing none, all those in favor, please signify by saying I. >> I. >> I. Anyone opposed? Those minutes are adopted. Uh next, we'll move to chair's remarks. And we have two items for you today under chair's remarks today. The first item is to consider forformational purposes an update from Patty Constant, senior program specialist in opioid prevention for an NOA County. Patty leads the effort of an NOA County opioid solution initiative or the AC OSI. It's composed of professionals from community organizations and individuals with lived experience. This group has worked to leverage community partners to expand nlloxxone access in the county as well as prioritize community-based prevention efforts. I'm going to ask Commissioner Meisner who serves as the lead commissioner on human services to start our conversation today. Commissioner Meisner. >> Yeah, thank you Mr. Chair. So I think many of us know that opioid uh is prevalent in the US. In 2024, Anoka County was the highest, I'm sorry, the fourth highest number of opioid overdoses in the U Minnesota and 100% of these are fentinol induced. Um, but with this group, the Anoka County opioid solutions, so ACOS, they are working every day as a collaborative to combat this. Uh so recently this group partnered with a um Triumph Pictures and they created a documentary. It's called Faces of Hope. I actually had the privilege of viewing this in the corrections community advisory board. It was so well done. Um truly talked about the stories here in Inoka County, what that looked like from a hu human human view and as ways as what we could do for actual solutions. So, there is going to be an actual screening that's going to be kicking off on Tuesday at 6 PM, February 3rd, at the Lyric Arts Main Street Stage right here in Anoka. This is a free event. It is open to all members of the community and is just a chance to gather and listen. There's also going to be a panel discussion after the viewing. I highly encourage anybody to uh who can attend to do that if you want to be in community. And then to talk more about that um I'm gonna toss it off to Patty Constance. Patty, >> hello commissioners and thank you so much for that and I appreciate the opportunity to give a short update on some of the opioid related activities that we have been um investing our time and efforts in. Um, I have been serving in this position as the opioid prevention specialist since October of 24. My role in that is to act as a steward of the opioid settlement funding um, and work with our community partners to reduce opioid initiation, misuse, overdose, and death. Some of this information some of you may have seen before, but I always like to make sure that everyone is on the same page. So, just so people know, um, all of these efforts are funded by opioid settlement funding and we have built an entire foundation to structure and guide these efforts. And part of that is that public health is to lead these efforts and to be the stewards of the funding. In 2024, we began the opioid advisory council and that advisory council underwent about a four-month process to determine how did we want to initially prioritize our opioid efforts. The initial two efforts that we wanted to try and target was prevention as well as nlloxxone education and distribution. I'd like to talk about nlloxxone efforts first. We determined in that that it would be the most uh judicious or the most frugal, the most um just focused effort was to be able to have the county and our programs deal with the opio or the settlement funding to fund our nlloxxone efforts. And so we put a contract in place with Steve Rumler hope network. So we have them as a partner to reduce or to get nlloxxone out into the community. So we have greatly increased our free access to nlloxxone and you can see on this slide how many doses of nlloxxone or nlloxxone kits were given out within the county. When we started these efforts we had five nlloxxone access points and we now have 30 nlloxxone access points. We're very proud of that fact. There is a link on this slide to where people can access those free Nlloxxone kits so that everyone has access in the county. We also made a concerted effort to have a presence and to educate about Nlloxxone. So to do that we attended 19 community events where we had tables of information and resources to get that out. We have made a concerted effort to get nlloxxone into public facing AEDs in the county. So through that effort we have gotten lock zone into 300 over 300 AEDs and that is an ongoing project and we would like to continue that to receive or to get Nlloxxone into as many AEDs as possible. as well. We are beginning some leave behind programs so that we could with any law enforcement or EMS responses if they respond to a an emergency that they would see it prudent they would be able to leave a dose of nlloxxone to hopefully uh help in future episodes. So that is beginning. And now why I'm really here today is to talk about our prevention community funding. So prevention was our top priority. We did fund seven different community-based programs um for a two-year program and at this point they are about a half of a year into those grant efforts. We selected those seven agencies to cover a broad populations, ages, and various parts of the county. We know that there is not one sole prevention effort that is going to address our opioid effort issues within the county. And so I am here to highlight one of those today as Mandy alluded to. This effort we have dubbed the faces of hope. This has multiple different components of it. And the first part was creating a website and this website you can see is facesofhopen.org. org and the idea that is to bring awareness to reduce stigma provide information and resources to the community. The issue was that we noticed that many people feel like opioids are an over there issue that happens to those people that happens in that part of town and not really understanding the impact that it has in our own community. So we created this website. On the website there are three different significant components. First is stories. On our stories page, it hosts the documentary video, as Mandy mentioned, that's about 23 and a half minutes long. There are also shorter segments so that people could use those maybe in programs to highlight conversations around this issue. And then people are also able to submit written stories of their uh maybe their journey with opioid misuse and their story of hope and how they made it through that to get to the other side. We have a section of resources that includes all of the Nlloxxone access points as well as Nlloxxone training and information along with a number of other substance use resources. And lastly, the last page is focused on education. And while there are some educational materials there, we're in the process of with another one of the RFPs designing eight hours worth of continuing medical education units that will help provide training and resources for our medical community as well as any interested community partners. Then that brings us to the documentary. So the website houses that documentary, but the documentary as I mentioned is 23 and a half minutes long and it is on that website, but we are having our first initial public screening of the event at Lyric Arts Theater on Tuesday, February 3rd. This event is meant to really bring together the community. We'll have a variety of community partners there. We're inviting all of you. We are inviting any member of the community who may be curious and interested um and want to see how this really impacts our people and our communities. It shares stories of a number of people who were very vulnerable in what they were willing to share in this documentary. The event itself will include resources from the community as well as the county. We'll have some refreshments. We'll walk watch that documentary and then there'll be a panel presentation where uh there will be four of us answering some questions and then the community or the audience will also be able to ask some questions of those people on the panel. Uh we were able to receive some prizes that were donated so that uh because it's February in Minnesota and weather can always be an issue, we wanted to try and encourage people to um attend this important and moving event. So, we encourage you to bring family, bring friends, [clears throat] bring anyone who may be interested in this. Um, share the trailer. All of you should have received um one of the flyers of the event. And for those in the audience, there are some flyers in the back of the room as well. Um, and with that, I would like to share with you uh the trailer for this movie. So, that's just a short snippet so you can see what that event and what the trailer will bring. All right, guys. >> All right, guys. >> So, softball is uh people in recovery. It's >> safe haven for people to come on a Friday night. >> He was very excited about playing, you know, he would call me all the time. I'm going to go play softball and >> and run that. I >> think still to this day, he's probably the best player we've had on the team. He's still awesome >> the the lifelong MVP the of the Rippers and got to start that with us and >> Okay, this is Chance. He played little league for years. I never missed a practice or a game. Um I would go to like all of them. Probably could have gotten a scholarship and went on to college, maybe even went pro. He was a very goofy child. Like from the beginning, he would light up a room and his laugh, he had a contagious laugh. The first time he smoked weed, he was 10. 15 is when he got into like the meth and [music] the oxies and I think there was a little bit of heroin in there. He was about 19. He called me and he told me that he was using fentanyl. It was [music] the worst nightmare that you could ever imagine coming true. The number one thing killing people accidentally yet it is rarely heard about. One person dies every seven minutes from an overdose. Just from the time we started this interview, one person has died. There is an opioid crisis in Anoka County. [music] Two years ago, you didn't even talk about overdose in this county. Is this idea of not my backyard, that's not going [music] to happen to my kid. That's not something that happens here when all the data suggested otherwise. I think that [music] there's always hope. We have the people. We have the tools. We have the things now where people don't have to die from this. We can engage people in [music] a way and get them the resources and the tools they need to live. And it's the reason why people get well is because they believe that somehow someway they can [music] find that thing that's going to heal them. And I think that's all you need is hope. Thank you very much for the opportunity to share that trailer. I hope that um each of you will be able to attend our event. Um and if you're not able to attend that night to at least go on to facesofhopaninoa.org um and view the documentary in its entirety. I appreciate the opportunity. Thank you. >> Any questions for Patty? Commissioner Riner. So you have 23 locations. Um what's the volume that you are uh distributing uh you know monthly if you have a number? >> Um it averages and it depends when there's a new location. Those tend to we have a little more uptake initially. I would say on average there's about 70 per month going out of our library locations of nasal nlloxxone around 70 uh intramuscular nlloxxone and around 70 fentanyl test strips. And those numbers on the slide also include what it was all of last year. Well, for the part of last year that those were funded. >> The more the better. Keep it going. >> Thank you. >> Well, thank you for the work you and your team do, Patty. It's u to combat opioids. It's a big deal in Anoka County and we really appreciate the work you're doing and the ongoing work that you and an NOA County OSI are doing. Thank you. >> Thank you very much. Our second item today is to consider resolution 2026-10 proclaiming January 25th through the 31st, 2026 as medical legal death investigation professionals week in Anoka County. I'm going to ask Commissioner Brastad, our lead commissioner on the medical examiner's office under our government operations focus to tell us more and introduce our guest, Commissioner Rest. >> Thank you, Mr. Chair. Uh the medicalleal death investigation community is comprised of a diverse and highly skilled group of experts including medical examiners, coroners, medical legal death investigators, forensics pathologists, forensic autopsy technicians, and administrative support staff who all play an essential role in administration [clears throat] of justice and public health by investigating sudden unexpected and violent deaths to determine the cause and matter of death with accuracy, scientific vigor, and integrity. Beyond the science, these professionals provide a voice for the deceased and offer answers, compassion, and closure to grieving families, some during the most difficult moments of their lives. They work in the shadows, stepping into difficult scenes to find answers for families and ensure justice is served. Part of the proclamation for the resolution reads, "The work performed by these individuals is vital to identifying emergency health threats, monitoring elicit drug trends, informing public policy, and providing the data necessary to prevent future preventable deaths in our communities. This is just a small piece of what these professionals do and we are very honored to recognize their commitment to their work this week. Now I'm going to ask Shane Sheets who's the director of the Midwest Medical Examiner's Office to speak more about the medical legal death investigation professionals week. And that is a mouthful. [laughter] >> That really is. >> And thank you. Thank you, Mr. Mr. Chair, commissioners, we do appreciate this here. Patty, you left this microphone a little low. I'm going to fix it. [laughter] I'll take care of that one. But no, we do we do appreciate the proclamation on behalf of Midwest Medical Examiner's Office. Our staff literally meets the citizens of ANOA at the worst moment of their lives. Every single day, they work behind the scenes in the shadows. this this silent service that you are recognizing is is amazing and incredible because I can't I can't express gratitude and gratefulness and and just I'm always in awe at the work they perform every single day you're dealing with an OKA county residents at their worst. It's plain and simple and their job is to find answers. And so today we have with us some medical legal death investigators and if you look in spellch checkck it still isn't recognized commissioner. So, it's it is a mouthful to say and not recognized as a good word yet. We're going to fix that. But we also have forensic technicians, medical transcriptionists, forensic pathologists, and and more. So, we just can't thank them enough. And I think I'll turn it over to the staff. They want to stand up quick and just, you know, [laughter] and and just thank them for their service. [applause] Pray, you know, we we do appreciate this a lot. Well, thank you Shane and your staff. You all play a vital role in ensuring justice and public safety and we commend you for the commitment you show and for all you serve in in noa county and others. We know how many counties you do serve and it's uh it's greatly appreciated by us. Any further comments? Uh, Commissioner Breaststead, >> I was just going to say we know you do good work because the growth that we've seen over the years. I mean, it's truly astounding. And our actual first action item is going to be to approve a couple of your new contracts. So, keep up the good work. Thank you all for what you do. >> Thank you, Shane. Now, I'd like to offer resolution 2026-10 proclaiming January 25th through the 31st, 2026 as meet medical legal death investigation professionals week in Anoka County. And I'd like to ask my fellow commissioners to join me. The resolution is before you. Is there any further comments? Seeing none, all those in favor, please signify by saying I. >> I. >> I. >> Anyone opposed? That item passes. Thanks again. Uh now on to our committee of the whole reports and we will start with the government operations committee and these will all be under the consent agenda and for that >> uh looking for approval for contract C001 >> and that passes unanimously. Uh anything else under medical examiner? >> That's it Mr. Chair. Thank you. Then we'll move on to the consent agenda for community >> and this is Care Portal's local network of member churches and community members and they have responded and met 88 requests in donating anything from mattresses and bed frames uh baby items and household needs. And the next action item is resolution 2026 HS-4 accepting gifts. also the sheriff's office. Uh they all work together as a team to make sure that goes off. >> Good points. Thank you. >> Yeah, I appreciate that distinction as well. Thank you. >> All right. And that uh concludes the uh >> 2026. Item number three is contract C 0012078, the 2025 to 2027 snowmobile safety grant between the state of Minnesota, Commissioner of Natural Resources and the Anoka County Sheriff's Office in an amount not to exceed $22,59426. Item four is contract C 00012077 the 2025 to 2027 offhighway vehication and parks committee report we'll start with the consent agenda for highway first any commissioner wishing to remove anything from the consent agenda seeing none we'll move into the highway section and commissioner Hinrich >> thank you Mr. Chair, the transportation committee met on January 13th at 8:30 in Andover at the transportation division facility. Uh we have six items on the consent agenda today. The first one is a resolution establishing the 2026 spring road restrictions on the Ina County highway system. Uh item number two is a resolution authorizing submitt of a fiscal year 2026 build grant funding application for improvements on the trunk high on trunk highway 65 and CASA16 which is Bunker Lake Boulevard northeast interchange project and associated improvements in the city of Ham Lake and Blaine. Uh the third item is contract C000012032 is a cooperative agreement between Anoka County, Washington County and the cities of Lino Lakes, Columbus, Hugo, and Forest Lake for corridor planning associated with the Minnesota Technology Corridor area along I35. Uh item number four, the committee is recommending approval to enter into contract C0011662. That's a joint powers agreement with the city of Andover at the for intersection improvements at CASA 18, which is cross town boulevard and Cass 20, which is 161st Avenue Northwest uh and Constance Boulevard in the city of Andover. Item number five, the committee is recommending approval to amend the existing agreement which is uh BN 00005116 with BNSF railroad railway for project SAP 002606-015 the reconstruction of CAS 6 Mississippi Street between Cass 1 East River Road to trunk highway 47 uh below the bridge and BNS this is with BNSF railway railway in the city of Fidley. And the last item uh we are recommending to award the contract uh number which was actually put on here now is uh C 0012088 in the amount of $69,985 to Forest Lake Contracting Inc. uh for a project uh for the replacement of traffic control systems on Northdale Boulevard and Raven Street in the city of Rapids. And with that, Mr. Chair, that wraps up the consent items and I will move those. >> Excellent. There is a motion on the floor by Commissioner Hinrich. Is there a second? >> Second. >> Second by Commissioner Brastead. Is there discussion or questions? Commissioner Gomesh. >> Thank you, Mr. Chair. Just one uh not a question or just a just brief discussion. I know people have been looking forward to this project in Andover um off of um 18 and 20 county areas 18 and 20 where the roundabout is going to go in. And so uh that's going to begin this spring. Um and that construction will get started. Um that has been a a four-way stop for as long as I can remember. And I know that some of the traffic flows and the traffic speeds have been of concern to some of the neighborhoods. So, uh I think it'll they're looking forward to something that'll change and and and help out uh in that area. So, uh it'll be difficult to get the the during the construction period, but we're going to keep the lanes open as best we can. Um but in the end, >> Hi, Commissioner Meisner. >> I Commissioner Hinrich. >> Hi, >> Commissioner Basta. >> I >> That passes unanimously. Anything else? Commissioner Hinrich. >> Yes, Mr. Chair. just uh we did review uh I want to thank uh chief engineer Joe McFersonson and staff for reviewing uh the transportation division corridor updates and and progress on those. Uh but mostly wanted to thank also um I had the opportunity to drive a plow truck and attend some plow training and we've put that training to good use. Uh it was fun to be out there with uh the men and women of Finoa County that are driving those trucks and uh keeping our roads safe and and dry and salted for the most part. It's been a it's been a rough year there. So uh thank you uh transportation staff. >> Very good. Thank you, Commissioner Henrik. Uh with that, we'll move into the parks portion of the report. Commissioner Reinard, >> thank you. Yeah, I was out there driving a plow, too. Um a lot more respect for everybody on the road that's doing that job. Um, I've only got one item for you today and it's really just a housekeeping item. A year ago, we entered into a contract and we didn't ratify it. So, it's contract number uh C0 uh12100 and it is for various programs with the uh Minnesota Extension program that we've got and uh the amount is 1,83,434 and I'll move that. >> There is a motion on the floor by Commissioner Reiner. Is there a second? >> Second. Second by Commissioner Jeepson. Is there any discussion on this item? Seeing no discussion, all those in favor, please signify by saying I. >> I. >> Anyone opposed? >> That passes. I'm going to actually consult the attorney. Uh that was ratification of a previous contract, but I guess there is a dollar amount attached to it even though it's not. >> Should we vote roll call on that? >> Probably. Yes. >> All right. We will resend that. I'm sorry, Commissioner Renard. >> Yeah, and I should mention too, um, the original contract was C012100 and there is the amended, um, action that we're taking today is C0012100A. I should very good forgot to mention that. >> We will resend the vote by acclamation and move to a roll call vote. >> Commissioner Schulty, >> I, >> Commissioner Gomesh. Hi, >> Commissioner Jepson. >> Hi, >> Commissioner Meisner. >> Hi, >> Commissioner Heinrich. >> Hi, >> Commissioner Bradstead. Hi, >> Commissioner Reiner. >> Hi. And that passes unanimously. Commissioner Reiner. And >> since we did that, um I moved it, but we didn't get a second, did we? >> I think we did. Commissioner Jeffson second. >> Oh, okay. All right. We're good then. >> Excellent. And then we'll move to uh I think we went through the information items on highway already, so we're covered there. And do you have any information items at all, Commissioner Riner? >> No, I don't. Not today. >> All right. And then that concludes that. We'll move back to our regular agenda and item eight where we'll consider approving an employment agreement with Jessica Leth and appointing Jessica as the deputy director of human services effective January 27th, 2026, which is today. Is there a motion to approve? >> So moved. >> I have a motion by Commissioner Jeepson. Is there a second? >> Second. >> Second by Commissioner Brastead. Is there discussion? Well, I would just say that in our management committee, there was a fusive conversation and it was all very good. All for Jessica. Uh, we would say welcome, but you've been here quite a while, so we won't say welcome. We'll say congratulations. Would you like to say anything, Jessica? You're welcome. If you'd like to come to the microphone, I see you got a lot of papers, so maybe a long speech written. [laughter] >> Uh, good morning, Mr. Chair and commissioners. Um, I want to thank you for welcoming me into this new position. Um, Anoka County has been my home for many years. It is where I started my career in government a couple decades ago. Um, and where I hope to make a lasting impact. I, um, human services is such an impactful um, division to our community members. We service those who are in critical needs, families and individuals. um and it is a deeply passionate area of mine. I look forward to um working with this division with these staff and um again this work matters deeply to me. I look forward to providing compassionate, effective and responsive services to those who need it most and to our dedicated employees in this division. Um, I'm grateful for the trust and support of the board trust that you guys put in me. Um, and I'm truly honored and excited to continue to serve in Noa County in this capacity. So, thank you very much. >> Well, thank you. And I would just say it's really [cough] it's gratifying [clears throat] to see leaders move up in our organization and to know what type of leaders we're building with inside Anoka County. It's really it is gratifying. >> Commissioner Gomesh. >> Thank you, Gomesh. >> Thank you, Mr. Chair. Yes, I agree um wholeheartedly and this was um a full um um routing of the of this job. There's a lot of people that I heard applied um but Jessica has been doing such a great job um here within internally. So, but I like the fact that we were able to have that the the great ability to see who's all out there. Um, and that does really tell a lot about people that want to come here to Anoka County because some of them are coming from state positions. So, it's kind of like, okay, maybe they're seeing what great work we're doing in Inoka County. But Jessica's going to has been just perfect in the role she's been in and now she'll move to another one. And I know that she'll continue that greatness that uh she's shown. So, congrats. >> Seeing no further discussion, this is a roll call vote. >> Commissioner Gomesh. >> Hi. >> Commissioner Jeepson. I >> Commissioner Meisner. >> Hi, >> Commissioner Hinrich. >> Hi, >> Commissioner Brastead. Hi, >> Commissioner Reiner. >> Hi, >> Commissioner Schulty. >> Hi. >> And that passes unanimously. Welcome, Jess. And that will bring us to our additional agenda. And if you'll pull that up, you will see that we are consider authorizing risk management to settle claim number 25-446 in the amount and terms as discussed with the attorney's office and risk management. Is there a motion to approve? So moved. >> Have a motion by Commissioner Brass. Is there a second? >> Second. >> Second by Commissioner Jeepson. Seeing no discussion, this is a roll call vote. >> Commissioner Jeepson. >> Hi. >> Commissioner Meisner. >> I. >> Commissioner Heinrich. >> Hi. >> Commissioner Braston. >> Hi. >> Commissioner Reiner. >> Hi. >> Commissioner Schulty. >> I. >> Commissioner Gamash. >> I. >> And that item passes unanimously. >> With that, if there is nothing else to come before the board, anybody have any comments? Seeing none, we're adjourned and we will have public comment in two That's comment period and seeing nobody here for public comment. Actually, I'll call a second time. I'll call a third time for public comment. Seeing none, public comment period is closed. We have no more meetings till one o'clock.